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Accidental Tech Podcast

665: My Basement Is Beautiful

120 min episode · 2 min read

Episode

120 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Health & Wellness, Startups, Software Development

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Vision Pro Light Shield Sizing: Apple's face scanning app produces inconsistent results across multiple scans, with one user getting 25W three times and 23W once on identical facial structure. The alphanumeric sizing system deliberately obscures measurements to avoid body image concerns, with only the final letter (W for wide, N for narrow) being interpretable.
  • CDR Longevity Science: Individual anecdotes about working or failing CDRs after 16-18 years miss the fundamental reliability issues inherent in CDR manufacturing chemistry and dye layer degradation. Storage conditions matter less than the underlying technology limitations that make CDRs inherently less reliable than other archival media regardless of careful handling.
  • Steam OS Translation Layer: Valve's Proton technology translates Windows DirectX API calls to Linux-native implementations, allowing Steam Deck and new hardware to run x86 Windows games on different architectures with only 10-20% performance hit for non-API CPU code. This approach mirrors Apple's Rosetta but targets gaming workloads specifically.
  • Valve Hardware Ecosystem Strategy: Steam Machine uses 28-30 decibel cooling, AMD Zen 4 six-core processor, delivers 4K 60fps gaming with FSR upscaling in a six-inch cube form factor. The replaceable magnetic faceplate and user-installable alternative operating systems position it as open PC hardware rather than locked console, directly competing with Xbox's declining market position.
  • High Fashion Tech Accessories: Issey Miyake iPhone Pocket costs $150-230 for knitted fabric phone holder, demonstrating fashion pricing bears no relation to manufacturing costs or materials. This follows Apple's pattern of limited-run luxury collaborations like gold Apple Watches and $300 leather MacBook sleeves targeting fashion-conscious buyers rather than mainstream users.

What It Covers

Apple's Vision Pro fit challenges, Valve announces Steam gaming hardware ecosystem including Steam Deck controller and Steam Machine console, CDR reliability debate continues, Apple releases $150-230 Issey Miyake iPhone sock accessory, and touchscreen MacBook Pro rumors emerge.

Key Questions Answered

  • Vision Pro Light Shield Sizing: Apple's face scanning app produces inconsistent results across multiple scans, with one user getting 25W three times and 23W once on identical facial structure. The alphanumeric sizing system deliberately obscures measurements to avoid body image concerns, with only the final letter (W for wide, N for narrow) being interpretable.
  • CDR Longevity Science: Individual anecdotes about working or failing CDRs after 16-18 years miss the fundamental reliability issues inherent in CDR manufacturing chemistry and dye layer degradation. Storage conditions matter less than the underlying technology limitations that make CDRs inherently less reliable than other archival media regardless of careful handling.
  • Steam OS Translation Layer: Valve's Proton technology translates Windows DirectX API calls to Linux-native implementations, allowing Steam Deck and new hardware to run x86 Windows games on different architectures with only 10-20% performance hit for non-API CPU code. This approach mirrors Apple's Rosetta but targets gaming workloads specifically.
  • Valve Hardware Ecosystem Strategy: Steam Machine uses 28-30 decibel cooling, AMD Zen 4 six-core processor, delivers 4K 60fps gaming with FSR upscaling in a six-inch cube form factor. The replaceable magnetic faceplate and user-installable alternative operating systems position it as open PC hardware rather than locked console, directly competing with Xbox's declining market position.
  • High Fashion Tech Accessories: Issey Miyake iPhone Pocket costs $150-230 for knitted fabric phone holder, demonstrating fashion pricing bears no relation to manufacturing costs or materials. This follows Apple's pattern of limited-run luxury collaborations like gold Apple Watches and $300 leather MacBook sleeves targeting fashion-conscious buyers rather than mainstream users.

Notable Moment

One host discovered their Synology Drive sidebar icon problem could be solved using Unix symbolic links, creating an alternate path that displays a standard folder icon instead of the full-color Synology branding. This workaround operates completely independently of the actual Synology Drive software, which never knows the symlink exists.

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Episode Transcript

Hey. So, let me just go on an apology tour right now, because we were supposed to record yesterday at the normal time. And Tuesday, I woke up, and I felt like a truck had ran me over. Wednesday, the truck backed over me. And I was like, fellas, I cannot do this today. And so, my many thanks to my beloved cohost for being flexible. We are recording this on Thursday, and we are doing it during the day, which, generally speaking, we don't like to do because oftentimes, there's, like, leaf blowers or sometimes there's weed whackers or whatever and all sorts of background noise. So Barking dogs. Don't forget. You're gonna hear them soon. Yep. Barking dogs. You'll probably hear Penny pawing at the office door trying to get in. So all this to say, if the audio sounds like garbage, Casey's fault. Not Marco's fault. Casey's fault. So that's my bad. That that definitely, that we we didn't want to record this time, but I begged my beloved cohost to do it earlier in the day to ensure that I stayed awake for all of it, which they were gracious and kind enough to do. So if the audio is not exactly up to snuff, again, my fault, not Marcus. I mean, it'll probably be fine because, first of all, iZotope exists, and it's awesome. But also, you know, in typical Casey fashion, you are throwing yourself so far under the bus before there's even a problem, and there probably won't even be a problem. So it'll probably be fine. Alright. Let's do some follow-up. And a little birdie has told me, because John did not tell me, that John has received some new presents. Oh, yeah. In my, continuing, saga vision pro stuff arriving at my house, couple things. I I did get my lenses, sir. Did I talk about that, last episode? You mentioned you were going to get the lenses, sir. I don't think we know that you did. Yeah. Anyway, I did I did get them. They work well. I'm actually kind of surprised that, the balance between me trying it with my mismatched contacts versus my correct, lens inserts, because the mismatched contacts are not quite right. One of my eyes has slightly the wrong prescription, but they have the advantage of not having a second pair of lenses in there. And the second pair of lenses does add more internal reflections, and also external reflections for light leaking through, which is another issue we'll get to in a second. So it's it actually is interesting. Like, I really have no choice. I can't do the contact thing because I would have to put the contacts in and put the VisionPRO and take them off when I take it out because I can't because my vision is bad. And my contacts that are calibrated to our distance, I can't look at the computer or my phone, and that's not good. I …

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Books, tools, and gear mentioned in this episode

SignalCast may earn commission on purchases via these links. As an Amazon Associate, SignalCast earns from qualifying purchases.

Tools

  • by Valve

    Valve's Proton technology translates Windows DirectX API calls to Linux-native implementations, allowing Steam Deck and new hardware to run x86 Windows games on different architectures with only 10-20% performance hit.
  • by Synology

    One host discovered their Synology Drive sidebar icon problem could be solved using Unix symbolic links, creating an alternate path that displays a standard folder icon instead of the full-color Synology branding.

Gear

  • by Apple

    Apple's Vision Pro fit challenges... Apple's face scanning app produces inconsistent results across multiple scans, with one user getting 25W three times and 23W once on identical facial structure.
  • by Valve

    Valve announces Steam gaming hardware ecosystem including Steam Deck controller and Steam Machine console... Valve's Proton technology translates Windows DirectX API calls to Linux-native implementations, allowing Steam Deck and new hardware to run x86 Windows games.
  • by Valve

    Valve announces Steam gaming hardware ecosystem including Steam Deck controller and Steam Machine console... Steam Machine uses 28-30 decibel cooling, AMD Zen 4 six-core processor, delivers 4K 60fps gaming with FSR upscaling in a six-inch cube form factor.

Products

  • by Issey Miyake

    Apple releases $150-230 Issey Miyake iPhone sock accessory... Issey Miyake iPhone Pocket costs $150-230 for knitted fabric phone holder.

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